Valve having a control slide guided in a valve housing so as to be longitudinally movable

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a valve, having a control slide (4) guided in a valve housing (6) so as to be longitudinally movable, which control slide selectively connects a plurality of fluid connection points (P, T, A, B) in the valve housing (6) to each other in a fluid-conducting manner or disconnects said fluid connection points from each other and can be electrically controlled by means of a stepper motor (2). Said valve is characterized in that the control slide (4) can be actuated by means of an emergency device (34, 52) in the event of a malfunction or failure.

The invention relates to a valve, having a control slide guided in a valve housing so as to be longitudinally movable, which control slide selectively connects a plurality of fluid connection points in the valve housing to each other in a fluid-conducting manner or disconnects said fluid connection points from each other and can be electrically controlled by means of a step motor.

In the case of valves for hydraulic applications, various types of actuation have been developed over time, ranging from a purely manual control with a manual lever to direct electromagnetic control or hydraulic pilot control to highly dynamic servo drives. As a further type of valve actuation, electromechanical control by means of a step motor has recently been added in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,448 B2 discloses a solution to this effect for a valve of the type mentioned at the outset. Such solutions are increasingly being used for mobile applications such as construction machines, agricultural machines, forklifts, cranes or other machines.

However, these solutions do not always meet the requirements in terms of safety, because, in the event of a step motor failure or a failure of the electrical system, the valve is returned to a safe neutral position, but there is the risk that the related machine cannot be brought into a safe state and remains in a state endangering the environment.

In view of this, the invention addresses the problem of providing a valve of the type mentioned in the introduction, which thus avoids the risk of endangerment in case of such a fault. According to the characterizing part of claim 1, this problem is solved using a valve of the type mentioned at the outset, in that the control slide can be actuated by means of an emergency device in the event of a fault or failure. Irrespective of the rotational position of the step motor, in this way the control slide can be brought into a position, in which the machine can be controlled and/or put in a safe state.

Particularly advantageously, a manually operable emergency device can be provided, so that an operator can effect a direct intervention, and therefore, in the event of required safety measures, it is not necessary to resort to an operating device, which may in turn be susceptible to failure.

In particularly advantageous embodiments, the arrangement is such that the free end of the control slide is connected to a control rod, the free end of which is guided out of the valve housing, permitting a manual actuation, preferably via an emergency button arranged at the free end of the control rod. In this way, a simple and compact emergency device can be implemented.

In the case of particularly advantageous exemplary embodiments, the control rod of the emergency device passes through an energy storage device, in particular in the form of a compression spring, the free end of which is supported by a guide of the control slide or by parts thereof and the other end of which rests on a mounting sleeve, which is also penetrated by the control rod.

The arrangement can be such that the mounting sleeve has a reduction of cross-section at its free end, forming an end stop for the control rod of the emergency device, which is provided with an enlargement of cross-section and is guided in an end cap of the valve housing so as to be displaceable against the end stop. The axial length of the mounting sleeve can be selected such that upon the control rod reaching the end stop, the control slide attains its blocking position, which separates the fluid connection points in the valve housing from one another. This can be a centered zero position of the control slide, corresponding to the safe state.

The axial length of the mounting sleeve can further advantageously be selected such that, when the enlargement of cross-section of the control rod is moved away from the step motor, the control slide assumes another operating position different from the blocking position and opposed to the effect of the energy storage device, in which at least some of the fluid connection points are connected to one another. In the opposite direction of movement of the control rod towards the step motor, the mounting sleeve is lifted from its additional stop position at the end cap by means of the enlargement of cross-section bearing on the end stop against the effect of the energy storage device, and the control slide reaches, in following the movement of the control rod, another operating position, which is different from the blocking position and from the operating position, in which at least some of the fluid connection points are connected to one another.

To actuate the valve by means of a step motor, the control slide is preferably movably mounted between a toothed rack of the step motor and the control rod of the emergency device in the valve housing, the toothed rack being in meshed engagement with a pinion coupled to the step motor.

With regard to the design of the valve housing, the arrangement can particularly advantageously be such that the control slide passes through a guide which, being designed bipartite, serves with a guide part for end-side longitudinal guiding of the control slide in this region and which, with a control disk supported by the guide part, forms a support for supporting one end of the energy storage device of the emergency device.

Such a valve can advantageously be designed as a 4/2-way sliding valve, the valve housing having fluid connection points in the form of a pressure supply connection, two tank connections and two service connections for this purpose.

Below, the invention is explained in detail by means of an exemplary embodiment shown in the attached drawing, the sole FIGURE of which shows the exemplary embodiment in a broken-off longitudinal section, only a pinion at the output side and a toothed rack of the associated step motor being shown.

With reference to the FIGURE, the invention is illustrated by using the example of a 4/2-way slide valve, which can be electrically actuated, without hydraulic pilot control, according to the prior art disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,448 B2 by means of a step motor designated as a whole by 2. A control slide 4 guided in the valve housing 6 in a longitudinally displaceable manner is shown in the FIGURE in its centered zero position corresponding to the safe state of a connected system, in which all fluid connections located at the valve housing 6, namely a pressure port P, service ports A, B and tank ports T are separated from one another. To prevent the control slide 4 from being pressurized under operating conditions at its front faces by leakage flows, which would result in unwanted positioning forces on the control slide 4, the two end regions of the control slide 4 are led out of the valve housing 6 through sealing elements 8. For the actuation by the step motor 2, the end region 10 of the slide 4, on the left hand side in the FIGURE, is connected to the toothed rack 12 of the step motor 2, which moves the toothed rack 12 translatively via a toothed wheel 14 in accordance with the aforementioned state of the art. For coupling the end region 10 to the toothed rack 12, said toothed rack has a ball head 16 at the connection end, which engages into a coaxial blind hole 18 in the end region 10 and which is safeguarded from exiting the blind hole 18 by a snap ring 20. A compression spring 22 is located in the blind bore 18 for the purpose of backlash-free contact of the ball head 16 on the snap ring 20.

On its end region opposite the step motor 2, the control slide 4 is led out of the valve housing 6 via a bipartite guide device. This guide device has a guide sleeve 24 forming the actual longitudinal guide for the control slide 4, which adjoins the sealing element 8 at the outer end of the valve housing 6, and a control disk 26 abutting the outside of the guide sleeve 24. The part of the guide sleeve 24 protruding from the end of the valve housing 6 is enclosed by the connecting flange 28 of a housing end cap 30, which is screwed to the end of the valve housing 6. The control disk 26 has a central opening 32 through which a control rod 34 extends, which is screwed to the control slide 4 via a threaded bore 36. The control rod 34 extends through the interior 38 of the end cap 30, which forms a circular cylindrical spring housing, and emerges from the end cap 30 through a sealing element 42 situated at the end of the end cap 30 with a protruding actuating section 40.

An energy storage device in the form of a compression spring 44, one end of which is supported on the control disk 26, which forms a support and bears against the front end of the control slide 4, is located in the interior 38 of the end cap 30. The compression spring 44 surrounding the control rod 34 also surrounds the outside of a mounting sleeve 46 penetrated by the control rod 34, which mounting sleeve has at its end opposite from the control slide 4 a radially outwardly protruding rim 48, which forms the second support of the compression spring 44. In the state shown in the FIGURE, which corresponds to the centered zero position and a safe state of the valve, the end rim 48 of the mounting sleeve 46 rests against the end cap 30 at the end of the interior 38. Simultaneously the enlargement of cross-section 50 of the control rod 34 abuts the inner rim of the through-hole 51 of the mounting sleeve 46, of the through-hole having a reduced diameter in comparison. If, during a control movement, the control slide 4 is actuated from the depicted zero position in the direction of the step motor 2 to connect the pressure port P to the service port A and a tank port T to the service port B, then the mounting sleeve 46, entrained by the enlargement of cross-section 50 of the control rod 34, is lifted from the abutment at the end of the end cap 30. As a result, the control slide 4 moves to the left in the FIGURE against the action of the compression spring 44.

If the control slide 4 is actuated out of the illustrated zero position for a movement directed away from the step motor 2, the enlargement of cross-section 50 is lifted from the rim of the opening 51 of the mounting sleeve 46 and moves to the right within the mounting sleeve 46 in the FIGURE, this movement being effected against the action of the compression spring 44 as the support formed by the control disk 26 moves to the right with the control slide 4. The axial length of the mounting sleeve 46 is dimensioned in such a way that the control slide 4 can be displaced sufficiently far to connect the pressure port P to the service port B and the service port A to a tank port T.

As mentioned above, the control rod 34 is led out of the end cap 30 with the actuating section 40 and is thus accessible for an emergency actuation of the valve. In the illustrated example, an emergency button 52 attached to the end of the actuating section 40 of the control rod 34 is arranged for direct manual emergency operation. The design shown, in which the control rod 34 and the actuating section 40 are formed in one piece, is not compulsory. The actuating section 40 could be a separate adapter part, which is screwed to the remaining part of the control rod 34, for instance. Another option would be designing control slider 4 itself in such a way that it protrudes from the end cap 30 forming the spring housing and can itself be used as an actuating part for emergency actuation. Because, as mentioned above, unlike in hydraulically controlled systems, the interior 38 of the end cap 30 is not pressurized owing to the sealing of the control slide 4 by means of the sealing elements 8 provided at the housing end, thus a simple sealing ring 42 can be provided where the control rod 34 exits the end cap, as only a seal against splashing water or dirt carried in from the outside has to be provided. 

1. A valve, having a control slide (4) guided in a valve housing (6) so as to be longitudinally movable, which control slide selectively connects a plurality of fluid connection points (P, T, A, B) in the valve housing (6) to each other in a fluid-conducting manner or disconnects said fluid connection points from each other and can be electrically controlled by means of a step motor (2), characterized in that the control slide (4) can be actuated by means of an emergency device (34, 52) in the event of a malfunction or failure.
 2. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the emergency device (34, 52) can be manually actuated.
 3. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the free end of the control slide (4) is connected to a control rod (34), the free end of which is guided out of the valve housing (6), permitting a manual actuation, preferably via an emergency button (52) arranged at the free end of the control rod (34).
 4. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the control rod (34) of the emergency device passes through an energy storage device, in particular in the form of a compression spring (44), the free end of which is supported by a guide (24, 26) of the control slide (4) or by parts (26) thereof and the other end of which rests on a mounting sleeve (46), which is also penetrated by the control rod (34).
 5. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the mounting sleeve (46) has a reduction of cross-section (51) at its free end, which forms an end stop for the control rod (34) of the emergency device (34, 52), which is provided with an enlargement of cross-section (50) and is guided in an end cap (30) of the valve housing (6) so as to be displaceable against the end stop.
 6. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the axial length of the mounting sleeve (46) is selected such that upon the control rod (34) reaching the end stop, the control slide (6) attains its blocking position, which separates the fluid connection points (P, T, A, B) in the valve housing (6) from one another.
 7. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the axial length of the mounting sleeve (46) is selected such that, when the enlargement of cross-section (50) of the control rod (34) is moved away from the step motor (2), the control slide (4) assumes another operating position different from the blocking position and opposed to the effect of the energy storage device (44), in which at least some of the fluid connection points (P→AB, BA→T) are connected to one another.
 8. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that for a movement of the control rod (34) towards the step motor (2), the mounting sleeve (46) is lifted from its additional stop position at the end cap (36) by means of the enlargement of cross-section (50) bearing on the end stop against the effect of the energy storage device (44) and the control slide (34) reaches, in following the movement of the control rod (34), another operating position, which is different from the blocking position and the one operating position, in which at least some of the fluid connection points (P→A, B→T) are connected to one another.
 9. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the control slide (4) is movably mounted between a toothed rack (12) of the step motor (2) and the control rod (34) of the emergency device (34, 52) in the valve housing (6).
 10. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the control slide (4) passes through a guide (24, 26) which, being designed bipartite, serves with a guide part (24) for end-side longitudinal guiding of the control slide (4) in this region and which, with a control disk (26) supported by the guide part (24), forms a support for supporting one end of the energy storage device (44) of the emergency device.
 11. The valve according to claim 1, characterized in that it is designed as a 4/2-way sliding valve, the valve housing (6) having fluid connection points in the form of a pressure supply port (P), two tank ports (T) and two service ports (A, B) for this purpose. 